Abstract
Wind-driven rain (WDR) exposure is a crucial impact factor to consider for building envelope components and systems. The roof being a climate screen, shields inner structures from various precipitations preventing most of the water from intruding. Although WDR exposure tests are quite common, there is a lack of studies that explore a quantification of water intrusion during such an experiment. Novel technologies such as e.g. building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems have been steadily more used as the building envelope components, and majority of BIPV systems are designed for roof integration. Such systems are mainly viewed as electricity generators, consequently, the power output and parameters that affect them are usually in focus when these systems are evaluated, whereas little information is available on the weather protection performance of BIPV systems. To address this gap, a series of experiments were conducted to improve the testing methodology of WDR exposure for BIPV systems where quantification of water intrusion was implemented. As a result, a novel framework is presented, which includes a step-by-step test methodology and a detailed description of the construction of a water collection system. Selected BIPV system for roof integration was tested according to the methodology and collected water amounts were provided. The findings in this study demonstrate that quantification of water intrusion is feasible and provides performance-based information that will help improving the design of BIPV systems as climate screens.
Highlights
A relatively young technology that has been introduced to the building industry and that steadily gains more attention is buildingintegrated photovoltaics (BIPV)
BIPV systems are designed for inte gration into the building envelope along or instead of conventional building envelope components
The wind-driven rain (WDR) research field is complex and broad. It spreads from a micro-scale, covering the investigation of WDR exposure itself, its intensity, field measurements, etc. to a macro scale, when the subject of study explores how WDR affects the building envelope sys tems or the whole building
Summary
Previous laboratory investigations carried out by Breivik et al [20] and Andenæs et al [21] utilized a dynamic air pressure test methodol ogy, and showed the feasibility and importance of conducting large-scale experiments with WDR exposure for the BIPV systems. For easier reference they are named Study 1 (experiments done by Breivik et al [20]) and Study 2 (experiments done by Andenæs et al [21]). This method applies to all components and sections of roofs made of any material to be fitted in roofs at any slope between 0◦ (horizontal) and 90◦ (vertical) at their normal oper ating conditions for which they were designed and installed according to the manufacturers’ recommendations in a finished building
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